Press Room

Screening of Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes will be followed by a Question and Answer Session with Jongerius and Filmmaker Amie Knox

Saturday, May 16, 2009 2:00pm at MAD

New York, NY (April 4, 2009)

The Museum of Arts and Design, in partnership with Design Onscreen - The Initiative for Architecture and Design on Film, announces the premiere of Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes, a documentary exploring the design approach of the world-renowned Dutch designer. The film is presented in conjunction with the Museum's exhibition Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics and will premiere on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 2:00pm at the Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York City. Tickets are free with admission. Limited seating, doors open at 1:30pm. The screening of the thirty-minute film will be followed by a question and answer session with Hella Jongerius and filmmaker Amie Knox.

Jongerius, who is regarded as one of the most innovative and creative designers working today, works on the cusp of design, craft, art and technology to fuse traditional and contemporary influences, high tech and low tech, the industrial and artisanal. Born in De Meern, she studied industrial design at the Eindhoven Design Academy and has since combined elements of that discipline with those of traditional craftsmanship in products, textiles and ceramics. Many of her early designs were manufactured by Droog, the influential Dutch design collective, and she now puts her own work into production through Jongeriuslab, her Rotterdam studio, as well as developing products for manufacturers such as Maharam, Royal Tichelaar Makkum and Vitra.

Denver-based filmmaker Amie Knox of A bar K Productions shot Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes on location in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Makkum, Indianapolis and New York. The half-hour film explores Jongerius' design process through interviews with the designer and her assistants, the manufacturers of her designs and the curators and retailers who admire her work. This seminal designer and her influence are discussed by leading figures in international design, including Paola Antonelli (The Museum of Modern Art, New York), R. Craig Miller (Indianapolis Museum of Art) and New York design retailer Murray Moss. Manufacturers of her designs are also featured, including Rolf Fehlbaum (Vitra), Michael Maharam (Maharam), and Jan Tichelaar (Royal Tichelaar, Makkum).

MAD presents Jongerius' Nymphenburg Collection as part of Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics, the first major U.S. museum exhibition devoted to state-of-the-art industrial ceramic production and the industry's impact on craft, art, and design. On view May 6 - September 13, 2009, the exhibition features over 200 objects from eighteen countries, exploring how artists and industrial designers are re-imagining the possibilities of ceramics in the 21st century.

Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes is the second documentary produced by Design Onscreen, a Denver‐based foundation dedicated to the production and preservation of high‐quality films on architecture and design. Founded in 2007 by Denver documentary enthusiasts H. Kirk Brown III and Jill A. Wiltse, Design Onscreen also produced Journeyman Architect: The Life and Work of Donald Wexler, on the renowned Palm Springs architect, which premiered February 15, 2009, as part of Modernism Week in Palm Springs, California.

Amie Knox is a Denver-based independent documentary film producer and founder of A bar K Productions. Over the past twenty-five years she has produced films for PBS, the Discovery Channel, and Turner Broadcasting, among others. From 1985 to 1990, Knox worked in the Office of Film and Television at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1988 she co-produced a documentary on the American artist Frederic Remington for PBS's American Master Series, as well as a documentary on the American ceramic designer Beatrice Wood which was also broadcast on PBS. Recent documentaries include a three-part series on the creation of a new addition to the Denver Art Museum designed by Daniel Libeskind.

Hella Jongerius: Contemporary Archetypes was originally produced by Design Onscreen to accompany the exhibition European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century, organized by the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum. This exhibition is also scheduled for the High Museum in Atlanta in October 2009. The Jongerius film is also expected to be shown at museums and other venues across the U.S. and Europe. Additional financial support for the documentary was provided by the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN

The Museum of Arts and Design explores how craftsmanship, art, and design intersect in the visual arts today. The Museum focuses on contemporary creativity and the ways in which artists and designers from around the world transform materials through processes ranging from the handmade to cutting edge technologies. The Museum's exhibition program explores and illuminates issues and ideas, highlights creativity and craftsmanship, and celebrates the limitless potential of materials and techniques when used by creative and innovative artists. MAD's permanent collection is global in scope and focuses on art, craft, and design from 1950 to the present day.

At the center of the Museum's mission is education. The Museum's dynamic new facility features classrooms and studios for master classes, seminars, and workshops for students, families and adults. Three open artist studios engage visitors in the creative processes of artists at work and enhance the exhibition programs. Lectures, films, performances and symposia related to the Museum's collection and topical subjects affecting